


The "Do Over" Soulmate

by Phlinting



Series: Soul Words Suck! [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Happy Ending, M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-26 15:59:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7580734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phlinting/pseuds/Phlinting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because...he's Hawkeye.</p><p>Thanks to the death and unusual resurrection of his real soulmate, Clint now has a faded set of words and a new set of words—and no, it turns out that the new ones don't belong to Phil.</p><p>Phil says it's okay, that they have busy lives and having two soulmates might even be good for Clint because...blah, blah, reasons. (Yeah, so maybe he tuned out around then. Phil is his <em>actual<em> soulmate. That's all that matters.)</em></em></p><p>And hey, maybe the words aren't even real; maybe they're just the cosmos screwing up, a glitch, a bug, a dumbass mistake. That has to make more sense than the idea of a complete stranger walking up to him and asking, "You didn't see that coming?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, again I'm ignoring everything that happened in CA:CW because I still have many, many reasons... And oops sorry Laura, in this world you and the kids don't even exist. (Apologies cuties.)
> 
> Also, I'd like to point out that this one is all graenr's fault. One comment about wanting to read a soulmate "do over" fic and suddenly my inner muse wouldn't shut up. :P Thanks, greanr, for the plot bunny. I hope you enjoy the results.
> 
> **I've also had some weird formatting issues that I'm still trying to fix. I have no idea why the screen version was showing correctly but the ebook versions seemed to switch to italics half way through. Hopefully I've managed to fix them this time. Thanks for reading.**

Clint Barton woke slowly, exhaustion still riding him, his body aching in all sorts of strange places. Apparently fighting giant rabbit-shaped robots used a lot more muscles than he'd realized he even had.

"You should go to bed," Natasha suggested, nudging him gently with her bare toes.

He shook his head and sat up straighter as if he planned to finish watching the movie that had probably finished several hours ago. As had become his habit, he'd fallen asleep on the couch in front of the TV rather than risk “Loki” nightmares and waking in an empty bed.

Natasha understood why he did it. She just didn't think it was particularly healthy.

And yeah, he was getting to a point where he kind of agreed with her, but Phil would be home in a few more days and then everything would go back to normal—well as normal as a marriage between two very busy SHIELD agents could be.

Phil had been in rehab for months now. Clint rubbed at the faded words, refusing to look down at the reminder that his soulmate had died. Phil was fine. Clint had spoken to him just this morning and he'd sounded relaxed and happy and very much alive. His recuperation in Tahiti was nearly over and he'd be home very soon.

"Would you like some company? I can sleep pretty much anywhere," Natasha offered quietly.

Clint smiled at her generosity, but shook his head in reply. Natasha hated being touched—legacy of being raised by the Red Room—so her offer to fill the empty side of the bed was even more selfless than it seemed.

"I'll be fine," he said, stretching his arms over his head and flinching when his back cracked rather painfully. Giant robot rabbits and sleeping on the sofa were apparently not a good combination. Who knew? "Go get some sleep, Nat. I'm just going to watch TV for a little while longer."

She wasn't fooled by his nonchalance, but she closed her book, wished him a good night, and was about to leave the room when something caught her eye. She stepped back toward Clint and reached for his right hand.

"I thought Phil's soul words were on your left arm."

"They were," Clint said, not looking at his wrist. He hated the faded words now. They were nothing but a terrible reminder of the despair he'd felt when he'd believed Phil to be dead.

Natasha gave Clint an assessing look as if deciding whether to tell him something or not. "You have new ones," she finally said, smiling softly. "Look."

Clint finally looked at his wrists, his gaze skittering away from the faded words on his left to the new words on his right.

He tilted his arm toward the TV to see them in slightly better light. Natasha rolled her eyes and asked JARVIS to turn on the lights instead. Yeah, Clint was never going to get used to that.

 _You didn't see that coming?_ was written in a messy scrawl across the inside of his right wrist. It didn't look like Phil's tidy penmanship, but then again the man had just survived a spear through the heart and life-saving surgery. That was liable to make anyone's handwriting messy.

"Maybe Phil said them to me the first time we spoke on the phone after… everything happened," Clint mused. He'd been so relieved to learn that his husband wasn't dead that he'd barely heard the words over the mantra of "Phil's alive! Phil's alive! Phil's alive!" going on in his head.

"Strange words for Phil to say though," Natasha said. "My guess is that these are your second soulmate's words." She was eyeing the letters critically as if she could identify the person from their penmanship alone, so she didn't see the horror that Clint was sure spread across his face.

"Second soulmate?" he asked weakly, wishing he'd attended a few more years of health classes in middle school. Clint had never been stupid, but it was times like this one when he wondered how much he'd missed that the rest of the world considered "common knowledge."

"It happens," Natasha said, not looking directly at him although he was sure she knew the expression on his face. "Sometimes when a soulmate dies, their words are replaced a little while later. Usually when that person is ready to move on from their grief."

"Not moving on," Clint said scowling at the words on his wrist. "Getting back to normal." He shook his arm rather violently, realizing even as he did such a dumbass thing that no matter how hard he wished for it, he was never going to be able to shake the words off his skin. "This has to be a mistake. I don't need a replacement soulmate. I've got Phil. I love Phil."

Natasha shrugged casually, her fallback expression when she wasn't quite sure how to react.

"Maybe it's just a mistake," Clint said, verbally clutching at invisible straws. "Maybe it's like a glitch in the system and once I have Phil back they'll fade away as if they were never here."

He knew Natasha was simply humoring him with her silent nod, but Clint was growing more and more unsettled.

"I don't want a 'do over.' I have Phil."

"You have Phil," Natasha agreed calmly, urging him back onto the sofa and then cuddling into him despite her own discomfort. She was his best friend and he loved her and he was very grateful that she was the one to have noticed his new soul words first. "Breathe, Clint, the rest will sort itself out."

~*~

Clint rubbed his finger over the faded soul words. It had become a habit over the past couple years. It wasn't really a sign of agitation, just a subconscious attempt to feel closer to Phil. They were still very much in love, but between Clint's work with the Avengers and Phil's new responsibilities secretly rebuilding SHIELD, there was very little time for romance.

"When is he due home?" Natasha asked, glancing pointedly at Clint's hand.

"Sometime tomorrow, hopefully." Barring of course alien visitor, terrorist attack, or the discovery of another 084. Unfortunately all three occurred on increasingly frequent occasions these days.

"Perfect timing, Merida," Tony quipped as he and Steve joined them in the meeting room. "We should be back by then."

"Where are we going?" Clint asked, trying to slip into "mission mode" in his mind. They'd been chasing down all sorts of missing items since the fall of SHIELD, but they'd yet to find the scepter Loki had used on Clint before the Chitauri invasion.

It was the one item Clint definitely wanted to find. Two years later and he was still having fairly regular, terrifyingly real-feeling nightmares tinted in blue, and he was more than ready for them to stop. The sooner Thor got the scepter off world, the safer Clint would feel.

Tony spread out a couple dozen photographs that appeared to have been taken by satellite. "Sokovia," he said, pointing to a castle-like building in the photographs.

"We've tracked several key Hydra personnel to that base, so we're hopeful that it's where the scepter is being held."

Clint was both glad to be closing in on the weapon and kind of terrified to go anywhere near it. He hid that embarrassing reaction behind smartass quips and teasing, but Natasha gave him a raised-eyebrow look that said he wasn't fooling her.

The resistance they encountered almost from the moment they landed was rather encouraging. With that much security the base was obviously important. Discovering that the entire building was surrounded by a type of electronic shield only solidified their determination to get inside.

Clint was busy doing his job—AKA blowing stuff up—when something invisible knocked him off his feet, but it was the words the young man asked as he slowed down enough for Clint to see him that knocked Clint's world off kilter.

_"You didn't see that coming?"_

No, he really fucking didn't.

And it was a near-fatal distraction. It meant he wasn't fast enough to duck out of the way of some new-age fucking gun and it left him injured and possibly fighting for his damn life.

~*~

Helen Cho was definitely a miracle worker. Instead of facing weeks of recovery and possible infection, Clint was up and walking around within a few hours of getting back to Avengers Tower.

Phil made it home for all of ten hours—most of which they spent doing far more interesting things than talking—before being called back to SHIELD headquarters. It meant Clint hadn't found a way to discuss meeting his super-speedy second soulmate, but since the man had essentially tried to kill him, Clint was happy to consider the matter finished.

When Clint had worriedly explained about the new soul words a couple of years ago, Phil had been very understanding. He’d even gone as far as encouraging Clint to seek out their owner. Phil had calmly pointed out that they both lived busy lives and having two soulmates might even be good for Clint because...blah, blah, reasons. (Yeah, so maybe he'd tuned out around then. Clint knew Phil was his _actual_ soulmate. That was all that mattered.)

But none of that meant a thing now anyway since the words were obviously a mistake. They'd been uttered by someone that it would be impossible for Clint to love, and therefore proved his theory that they'd been nothing more than a glitch.

Feeling more settled than he had in years, Clint went to Tony's party alone, laughed with his friends, tried to lift Thor's hammer, and basically had a good time until Ultron arrived.

Everything after that was a bit blurry, but he got to throw Cap's shield and he escaped uninjured (yay!) and so he committed himself again to helping the others track down the scepter.

His quick phone call and explanation didn't mollify Phil though. He knew Clint hated medical, so he had pretty good reasons to disbelieve him when he told Phil he was fine. After several minutes of unsuccessful reassurances, Clint finally called Natasha's phone and added her to the call.

Phil knew Natasha would protect Clint any way she felt necessary, but he also knew she wouldn't lie about the severity of his injury. It didn't stop Natasha from lecturing them both though. Clint was just finishing up their discussion when he was called into the meeting. A quick, smartass reassurance to Phil—"Negative. I answer to you"—and to Natasha—"Yes, ma'am"—had them both snorting their goodbyes.

Clint stepped into the room where the other Avengers were and grinned as Natasha put her phone away and tried to hide her own smile.

~*~

Tracking down Ultron on a landlocked ship in the middle of nowhere was not Clint's idea of fun, especially when things started going to hell almost immediately. He managed to stop Wanda when she tried to mess with his mind, but he sure as hell wasn't ready for the way his supposed soulmate knocked him on his ass again.

"Yeah, you better run!" he gasped out as he once again tried to pick himself back up off the ground.

~*~

Pietro knew the moment his sister regretted her actions. The hulk rampaging through a densely populated area had not been the plan at all, but it did let them get away with the vibranium while the rest of the Avengers tried to regroup.

"How is your head?" Pietro asked her many hours later. He couldn't ever remember being as scared for Wanda as he'd been when the archer had jammed an arrow against her forehead. Thankfully, judging by the arrow's design and strange effect, it hadn't been an attempt to kill his sister, only to stop her from using her powers.

"I'm fine," Wanda replied, even though she was still rubbing a hand over her eyes. "I got too close." She gave him a sad smile. "Next time I'll be more careful."

"Hopefully there won't be a next time," he said, absently watching Ultron as he instructed a doctor who appeared to be brainwashed. He'd touched her with the scepter and she'd gone from frightened and defiant to willing participant in barely a heartbeat. Pietro wasn't comfortable at all with that. Even Wanda's abilities didn't take away a person's choices. For the most part she just showed them their greatest fears and the person involved reacted in their own way.

In Pietro's opinion, forming a new, fairer world did not include taking away people's choices. He glanced at his sister and knew that she could hear what he was thinking. She nodded slightly in acknowledgment, but she was quickly distracted by the process Ultron was using to transfer his consciousness into a body made from the vibranium.

"I can read him," Wanda said. "He's dreaming."

But when she cried out in pain and started to accuse Ultron of planning to kill everyone, Pietro knew exactly what they needed to do. Helping Captain America to save people and take the cradle back from Ultron felt pretty good.

Maybe the Avengers weren't the bad guys after all...

~*~

Clint was almost too busy trying to locate Natasha to notice when Cap arrived with the Maximoff twins in tow. He did however get involved, shooting out the glass and smirking as Pietro fell through and landed at his feet.

He rushed forward, planted a foot on Pietro's thigh and asked with a smirk, "What? You didn't see that coming?"

Pietro's eyes widened when he recognized Clint, but they barely had time to react before Thor arrived, called down the lightning, and Vision was...born.

~*~

In Sokovia Ultron was everywhere. No matter how many robots they took down, there always seemed to be more ready to replace them. Clint was aware of the rest of his team the same way he always was, but he kept a closer eye on Wanda and Pietro, not quite trusting their so-called change of heart.

But when he found himself inside a half destroyed building with Wanda—the young woman terrified and blaming herself for Ultron's actions—he could no longer think of them as the enemy. They really were just kids who'd made a few bad choices, and Clint could certainly relate to that.

He almost felt like a real adult when he gave her his impromptu speech on what it meant to be an Avenger. Phil would be so proud (and probably laugh for a good ten minutes at the idea of Clint being the responsible one.) But when Wanda stepped out of the house and started with the weird red magic stuff, Clint had a moment to really be grateful that she was on their side.

In no time at all she'd torn apart every robot in the vicinity. Clint’s "all clear" to the team got a harried response from Cap, so he turned toward Steve’s direction just as Pietro appeared. The man scooped up his sister, yelled "Keep up, old man!" and disappeared from sight.

Clint aimed an arrow in his direction. "Nobody would know," he mumbled. "Nobody." He kept grumbling as he picked his way through the rubble, but for the first time since meeting his second soulmate, he truly didn't mean it.

~*~

Getting people off a floating chunk of rock was going to be a problem, so when a huge airplane, shaped kind of like an ocean-bound aircraft carrier, floated up to hover beside them. Pietro couldn't help but smile. "This is SHIELD?" he asked as huge lifeboat-type aircraft flew out of its sides and began moving toward the people who needed to be evacuated.

"This is what SHIELD's supposed to be?' Captain America replied.

"This is not so bad," Pietro said, knowing now for sure that he was fighting on the right side.

Of course the fighting wasn’t over. The struggle to keep Ultron away from the core was rather exhilarating, but Pietro couldn't help but admire the team's bravery. Especially Clint and Natasha—two unenhanced individuals constantly putting their own lives on the line to save many more.

When the worst of the fighting was done, Pietro was very reluctant to leave Wanda alone, but she'd also proven that she was kind and brave and very, _very_ powerful. As her brother, he had the responsibility to remind her that he was twelve minutes older, but once she’d laughed at his antics he did leave to go help the others.

But when he got there, it all went to hell. Clint was out in the open, a young child he was rescuing still in his arms, when Ultron flew the quinjet over them and huge bullets rained down.

Pietro understood the outcome of his actions even before he made the decision, but saving Hawkeye and the kid was the right thing to do. The bullets that went right through him hurt like hell, but at least he got to see Clint's face one more time when he said in his best smartass voice, "You didn't see that coming."

  



	2. Chapter 2

 

Clint held himself together long enough to stumble onto the lifeboat and lower his aching body onto a row of chairs. Pietro was on the floor in front of him, his lifeless body abandoned as medical people moved on to help others. Clint reached down and lifted Pietro's still-warm hand into his own.

Tears blurred his vision when he read the soul words written on Pietro's skin. _Yeah, you better run!_ They were the exact words Clint had muttered that day on the ship. Far from being a mistake, or a one-sided connection, these four simple words proved everything Clint had been trying to deny since his new soul words had appeared.

Pietro had been Clint's "replacement" soulmate—and fuck, he hated that word so much now. Even if Phil hadn't been resurrected, Pietro had been a person in his own right. Not a replacement, not the spare, not the "do over."

Pietro had been a man Clint should have loved, and instead he'd died protecting Clint's sorry ass.

He stayed with Pietro even after everyone else had been moved to other parts of the hellicarrier, unwilling to leave the soulmate he'd barely known. He didn't even realize Natasha had joined him until she touched his arm.

"Clint?"

"He was my soulmate," he said, watching as he ran his fingers lightly over the words on Pietro's skin instead of looking at Natasha. "I said these words to him that day on the rusted ship. I don't even know if he heard me."

"I heard you," Wanda said, stepping onto the lifeboat and moving slowly toward them. Vision was floating a few steps behind her. "I never told him. He never knew." Tears flowed down her face as her knees crumpled and she landed on the floor beside Pietro. "I should have told him."

Clint had no idea how to handle his own grief. He couldn't even imagine the pain Wanda felt having lost her twin brother so suddenly and so violently. Clint dropped to his knees and gave her an awkward hug, but had no idea what to say.

"If I can interrupt for a moment," Vision said in a tone and cadence too close to JARVIS's for Clint's mind to process, "I believe that I may be able to help."

The quick flare of hope that Clint felt was completely ridiculous. Vision had literally been "born" a handful of hours ago. He probably didn't even understand how death worked for humans. They couldn't exactly "reboot."

"According to my scans"—and why was Clint only now noticing how creepy Vision's eyes were?—"Pietro's heart is still beating, albeit very, very slowly."

"What?" Natasha and Clint both asked in unison as they scrambled closer to hover over Pietro. There had been very little blood, but the bullet wounds had left massive holes. Yet now that he looked more closely, Clint realized that the wounds weren't quite as large as they'd been.

"How? How is this possible?" he asked, bewildered.

"I don't know," Wanda said, her hands surrounded by red magic as they hovered over Pietro's chest, "I felt him die. It felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest." She shook her head without taking her eyes off Pietro. "But Vision is right. His body is repairing the damage. He's in a state of"—she hesitated—"hibernation, I think. Everything else has slowed while his body repairs the damage,"

"So he's alive?" Clint asked, too frightened to hope.

Wanda moved her hands to hover over Pietro's head. "His brain is still functioning," she said with a relieved smile that quickly turned into a smirk "He's even listening to us talk." She laughed softly. "I never realized how clever you are, dear brother."

Clint couldn't hold back the sob that climbed his throat.

He squeezed Pietro's hand, rubbing his thumb over the soul words on Pietro's wrist. Clint grinned when he saw his soulmate's chest rise and fall as he took a small breath. "Hell, kid, now I really didn't see that coming."

~*~

Pietro was surprised to wake up.

He was even more stunned to realize the man he'd been dreaming about was sitting beside his bed and holding his hand. Pietro savored the sensation of skin against skin, his attraction to this man off the charts.

But he knew his fantasy was far from the reality of the situation.

Clint was holding his hand because Pietro had almost died saving the guy's life. Of course he was grateful. Of course he would stay by Pietro's side as he recovered. That's the sort of thing a superhero would do. It didn't mean a damn thing other than he was grateful for Pietro's help.

"You're wrong," Wanda whispered into his mind. Fuck, he hated it when she did that, but right now he was kind of glad she hadn't said the words out loud. The last thing he needed was to have this discussion in front of the man he had a crush on.

Damn, how fucking sad was that? He had a crush on one of the Avengers. How many millions of other people could say the same?

"It's not a crush," Wanda said silently even as she laughed softly out loud and added. "Open your eyes and see for yourself."

Pietro felt Clint's grip tighten when Wanda whispered that order out loud.

"He's awake?" Clint asked her, the hope in his tone very easy to identify. Wanda must have nodded, because Clint stood up and leaned over him slightly. Pietro thanked everything holy that his body was still recovering from massive trauma or he'd be getting all sorts of embarrassing reactions right now. He forced his eyes open in an effort to distract himself.

Hell, the way Clint was looking at him—and surely this was all still part of the dream Pietro had been having and not actually real life—was enough to make _everything_ stand to attention. Fuck.

"Welcome back," Clint said in a husky, sexy voice. "Can I get you anything?"

"Water?" Pietro asked, even though his throat seemed too tight to form the word.

A moment later a straw touched his lips and he sucked weakly until a small amount made it into his mouth. He swallowed the cool liquid, sighing softly as it soothed his sore throat.

"How much do you remember?" Wanda asked out loud, even though she was still in his head and already knew the answer.

"Bits," he answered, narrowing his eyes at his sister in warning. Wanda just smirked at him and shook her head.

"Do you remember the words you said to Clint the first time you met?"

"Yeah," he said, flashing back to the day he'd knocked Clint onto his back in the snow. But he really wasn't sure why Wanda would ask something so strange. Despite his growing attraction to the man, Pietro knew they weren't soulmates. The first words Clint had said to him were the repeat of his own. It had been when the attraction for Pietro had began—there was just something about a smartass superhero that turned him on—but they weren't Pietro's soul words.

"You said my words," Clint said in a deep voice, squeezing Pietro's hand as if he thought he might pull away. "And I said yours that day on the ship."

"The ship?" Pietro asked, not certain he was remembering correctly. "You didn't say anything to me that day."

"He did," Wanda said, "but you were busy running me out of there, so you didn't hear him."

"Yeah," Clint said, smiling, "you better run!"

"We're soulmates?" Pietro asked, convinced now that he was still dreaming. Hell, maybe he was dead and this was his afterlife. Worse things could happen…

"No," Wanda said, laughing softly again, "you're not dead and you're not dreaming." She stood up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "And now that I know you're going to live, I'm going to grab something to eat. Back soon."

Pietro felt a touch of panic swirl through his chest as he watched his sister walk out of the hospital room. He tightened his grip on the warm hand holding his.

"I won't leave," Clint said in a reassuring tone. "Not unless you tell me to, and maybe not even then. I've been told I don't follow orders very well."

Pietro couldn't help but smile. "I guess that makes two of us."

~*~  
Clint shouldn't really have been surprised by that sentence. He'd known Pietro was a kindred spirit long before he'd accepted that they were soulmates. Phil was either going to laugh his ass off at the cosmos pairing Clint with someone so much like himself, or Phil was going to have a breakdown when he realized he now had two smartass screw ups in his life. Hell, explaining Phil to Pietro was something Clint should do sooner rather than later.

"There's something we need to talk about."

"Where are we?" Pietro asked almost too casually, ignoring what Clint had just said.

"The new SHIELD headquarters," Clint answered, not missing the moment when Pietro flinched.

"When can I go home?" he asked, his voice wobbling slightly either from exhaustion or fear.

Clint tightened his grip, somehow sensing how much his soulmate wanted to run straight out the door. He suspected the only reason Pietro hadn't already done so was because he couldn't yet run at his usual speeds.

"That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about," Clint said. Pietro was already jittery so there was a good chance he might even try running even with his still-recovering body. "Tony Stark—um, Iron Man—has offered you and Wanda rooms in the new Avengers Headquarters, but I was kind of hoping you'd stay here with me."

"Here?" Pietro asked sarcastically. "In SHIELD headquarters?"

"Yeah," Clint said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "My other soulmate—"

"You have two soulmates?" Pietro asked, his eyes darting around the room as if he was desperately seeking an emergency exit. He was starting to vibrate with nervous energy, but for Pietro that meant something far more visible than for the average person. It was a little difficult to watch the constant, flickering movement.

"Kid, breathe," Clint said urgently. He knew he was fucking this up. He wasn't even sure how he'd fucked it up, but he was certain it was entirely his fault.

"Not a kid," Pietro growled through clenched teeth, "and not a soulmate to a guy who already has one."

Despite the ache in his heart, Clint let go when Pietro pulled away, the guy almost falling out of the other side of the bed to get as far from him as possible.

"Clint Barton, why are you upsetting my patient?" Jemma Simmons asked in an exasperated-school-teacher tone as she stepped into the room. Considering how little schooling Clint actually had attended it was rather surprising how often he heard that tone of voice.

"Jemma—" Clint began, but she cut him off.

"Phil just got back. Go give him an update while Pietro gets some rest."

"Yes, ma'am," he said without thinking. He needed to talk to Phil. Hell, Phil didn't even know that Pietro had said his soul words. And Clint wasn't at all sure how Phil might react to learning that his other soulmate was also the guy who'd nearly gotten him killed the first time they'd met.

"I thought you didn't take orders," Pietro said, but Clint heard the hurt behind those sarcastic words.

He shrugged, unsure how to deal with any of this. "Sometimes orders end up being what I need to do anyway."

"Who's Phil?"

"Phil Coulson, he's the director of SHIELD." Pietro actually seemed relieved to hear that, so Clint didn't want to say the rest, but lying—even by omission—wasn't going to do any of them any good. "And he's my other soulmate."

Clint could almost see the moment Pietro's emotions shut down. He pointed at the door in a clear request for Clint to leave.

He left the room and went to find Wanda, unsure what else to do.

~*~

The moment Clint stepped into his office, Phil knew something was wrong. Usually after a mission like the one the Avengers had just experienced, Clint had a manic sort of energy that took days to wear off. It's how most of the renovations at their farm house—AKA the retirement plan—had been done. Clint was good with his hands, so using that excess energy on something he loved to do was actually quite healthy.

But instead of rushing over to him, hugging him hard, and twitching impatiently as he usually did, Clint hesitated at the door.

"Rough day?" Phil asked. He'd only been given a broad update on what had happened in Sokovia, so he really didn't know what had happened to Clint personally.

"I found him," Clint said, his misery very clear on his face. "My other soulmate. I found him."

Phil had been worried that this was how things might go. He'd honestly meant it when he'd told Clint it was okay for him to have another soulmate. But a part of him had always known there was a good chance Clint would reject his other soulmate for fear of losing Phil.

"That's good news," Phil said, crossing the room to grab Clint by the arm and pull him toward the sofa. Once they were cuddled together, Phil's head resting over Clint's heart, he asked, "What's he like?"

Phil could feel and hear the painful way Clint swallowed, but he knew it was far easier for his soulmate to talk when he didn't have to look someone in the eye. Clint's arm twitched as he held Phil tighter.

"He saved my life," Clint finally whispered. "He stopped a barrage of bullets by pushing a bus in front of me and nearly got himself killed in the process. I think even he's surprised he woke up. I don't think he knew beforehand that he was capable of healing the way he has." Clint swallowed again, shifting his legs in agitation. "I think he believed he was going to die, but he chose to save my life anyway." Phil was pretty sure his soulmate was crying, but he let Clint keep the illusion of privacy. "He didn't even know we were soulmates, but he did it anyway."

"Does he know now?" Phil asked, swallowing hard himself now that he knew how close Clint had gone to dying.

"I told him," Clint said in a calmer, but resigned, tone, "but once he learned about you, he shut me down."

"Sounds like something you would have done when we first met." Clint didn't bother to deny it and Phil smiled at the memories of their first tumultuous year together. "I'm assuming he's younger than you?"

"He called me 'old man.'"

Phil laughed openly at that, remembering how many times Clint had said the same to him. "Sounds like karma."

Clint growled but it quickly turned into a soft laugh. "Always knew my wicked ways would bite me in the ass one day."

"Do you know where he is now?" Phil asked, already mentally running through what sort of SHIELD resources he might be able to use to track the man down.

"He's still in the medical bay."

"He's here?" Phil asked.

"Assuming he didn't run out the moment I left," Clint said sadly. "Once he gets his health back, we won't even be able to see him leave. Assuming, of course, that his sister doesn't use her magic to help him break out."

"Break out?" Phil asked. "You make it sound like he's a prisoner." But then Clint's words suddenly make sense. Siblings, one speedy, the other magic? "Pietro Maximoff? Your other soulmate is Pietro Maximoff?"

Clint twisted and looked directly at Phil for the first time since they'd sat down. "Is that going to be a problem?"

Phil took a moment to consider it. He'd never felt threatened by the idea of Clint having a second soulmate, but Pietro Maximoff was in his early twenties and he could run faster than the human eye could see. That was some very big competition.

But when it boiled down to it, life wasn't a competition. Clint deserved all the happiness he could get, and Phil wasn't about to stand in his way.

"Maybe he won't be so upset once he meets me."

Clint narrowed his eyes, perhaps understanding more than what Phil had meant with that sentence. For his age he was in good shape, but there was a reasonable chance that his carefully crafted, non-threatening appearance and demeanor might help calm Pietro down long enough for him to get to know Clint.

"You know you still terrify the baby agents, though," Clint said as he stood up and lifted Phil with him.

Phil shrugged. “There's not much I can do to change that now, but yeah it's probably a good idea to introduce me before he meets any of the other agents."

Clint nodded even as he ran toward the medical bay. Phil was right behind him.

 

  


  


  



	3. Chapter 3

Pietro was already regretting his harsh words.

Not wanting to share Clint with another soulmate was more about his own low self-esteem than anything else. But that didn't mean he actually wanted to share or that he was emotionally mature enough to swallow his pride and apologize. Clint had called him "kid" for fuck's sake. Who was Pietro to disappoint him?

Wanda narrowed her eyes, clearly unimpressed with his current thinking.

"I'm still twelve minutes older than you," he mumbled, because anything else he might want to say out loud he didn't want being overheard by SHIELD and their minions.

The labs in Sokovia had been SHIELD too (until Captain America apparently realized they were Hydra.) Pietro and Wanda had volunteered for their experiments hoping for better lives, so they'd given little thought to the change in "ownership."

Of course, they'd never expected so many of their fellow volunteers to die—all of them except him and Wanda—and they'd been pissed when they'd separated them, but it had been the concern for each other that had kept them going, kept them fighting. Maybe they'd survived where many others did not simply because they refused to leave the other one alone.

"And yet you stepped into a hail of bullets to protect a man you didn't even know was your soulmate," Wanda said with that small smile she wore when she knew she was right.

"Stay out of my head," he said with a mock growl. He knew it wasn't that simple. Wanda was able to pick and choose what she read in other people's minds, but she had a direct and permanent link to his (except apparently when he was in a state of hibernation and healing from near-fatal wounds and he wasn't exactly planning to do that often.)

The enhanced connection was probably because they were twins and had been each other's only constant in an ever-changing world, but it seemed pretty unfair that the link only went one way. Anything Pietro heard from his sister was deliberately "said," but Wanda had access to every thought, feeling, desire... Oh fuck.

Wanda laughed, apparently having already considered that seriously awkward little side effect.

"Um..."

"Breathe, big brother," she said in a voice that was not unlike the tone Clint had used earlier when he'd called him "kid." She moved closer to the bed and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "The further away I am the less clearly I hear your thoughts." She gave him a small smile. "That's why I've decided to join the Avengers. You'll be here. I'll be there, and now that we have cellphones we can talk as often as we want."

The idea was both terrifying and appealing. He knew his sister could take care of herself—in fact he was pretty certain she was more powerful than even she realized—but they'd never been that far apart, not ever.

But it would give him a chance to learn about his soulmate without having to worry what his sister might overhear.

Wanda bit her lips together, obviously trying not to laugh. "Learn?" she eventually asked. "Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

He wanted to growl "not a kid" but it was embarrassing enough that he'd already said that out loud for the surveillance cameras once already.

Again his sister smirked, but there was genuine love and affection behind it.

"I think this will be good for both of us," she said directly into his mind as she moved back to her seat beside the bed. "For too long it's been the two of us against the whole world. Maybe it's time to expand our thinking just a little."

Pietro couldn't argue with that. And even if he refused to acknowledge it out loud, fear was a big factor in his reaction to his soulmate. He'd already been freaking out that he had nothing to offer a genuine hero like Clint Barton when the man had casually mentioned having another soulmate. As embarrassing as the realization was, Pietro had given up without a fight. He'd been so damn scared he'd be rejected as a soulmate that he'd pushed Clint away first. He'd tried to blow it all to hell without even knowing the circumstances.

What he'd said to Clint had been pretty harsh. Fuck, what if he'd ruined things already? It was undoubtedly far easier for Clint just to go back to his real soulmate and follow Pietro's order to leave him alone.

"You're wrong," Wanda said, tilting her head toward the hallway to indicate the sound of running feet. "And you're both his 'real' soulmates, so just give things a chance."

"You know," Pietro said, smiling at his sister as the running footsteps slowed and Clint and an older guy stepped casually into the room as if they hadn't just been running, "I'm still twelve minutes older than you."

Wanda laughed. "I'm going to go," she said out loud, and then directly into his mind added, "Be good, be honest, and be yourself."

"Okay if we come in?" Clint asked as Wanda left the room.

"You're already in," Pietro grouched crossing his arms over his chest. Damn, changing his attitude wasn't going to be easy.

The older guy shrugged, gave Clint a look Pietro couldn't quite decipher, and then stepped toward the bed with his arm extended. "Phil Coulson, Director of SHIELD."

"And Clint's real soulmate," Pietro snarked. He considered not shaking the guy's hand but his sister's mental order to "play nice!" had him reluctantly unfolding his arms and showing at least a few of the manners his parents had taught him so long ago.

"Clint's other soulmate," Phil corrected, giving Pietro a warm smile. He didn't want to respond to the guy's relaxed and welcoming demeanor, but he felt himself succumbing nevertheless. "Jemma says your recovery is going well, but she'd like to keep you here for at least one more night just to be on the safe side."

Dr. Simmons had been very nice to him, so he wasn't going to rail against that particular restriction just now. The medical ward at SHIELD headquarters was comfortable and nothing like the cells he and Wanda had been kept in during the experiments Hydra had done, so there were no unpleasant associations—at least not yet.

"Whatever," he said without really making a commitment. If he wanted to leave, he would. It wasn't as if they could stop him.

"Clint usually heads home for a few days after a mission like the one who two just survived. I'd like it if you went with him."

"Pimping out your soulmate so you can convince me to join your little spy operation?" Pietro asked, not even certain where the surliness was coming from. Spending a few uninterrupted days with Clint was actually something he would like to try.

But instead of being offended, Phil laughed. "Geez, Barton. It's like talking to you ten years ago." Clint laughed with him but Pietro noticed the slight blush that climbed up his soulmate's throat. "Maybe I should come home with you two and make sure you don't snark each other to death."

Pietro didn't miss the small flare of hope that passed over Clint's face before he shut it down. He shook his head. "It's okay, Phil, we'll survive."

"But you can come with us if you like," Pietro said. He hadn't meant to say the words out loud, but he honestly meant the sentiment. There was just something very settling about Phil's presence.

Clint smiled. "So you'll come home with us for a few days?" Clint asked Pietro.

"Unless that's...ah... kind of weird for you, Phil."

"Not weird at all," Phil said, giving him another of those warm smiles. "We've known for a couple of years now that you'd be joining us. We just didn't know how or who or when." He leaned backward, snagged Clint's hand, and pulled him closer. "It's very nice to finally meet you, Pietro." He pressed a kiss to the back of Clint's hand before encouraging Clint to thread his fingers through Pietro's. "I need to square away a million things before I can take leave tomorrow. I'll swing by in the morning to pick you two up."

Clint wrapped his free hand around Phil's neck, pulled him closer, and gave him a brief but very erotic kiss goodbye. It was actually a little bit disturbing how much watching the two of them together turned Pietro on.

"So," Clint said slowly as they both watched Phil leave the room, "any idea what we should do now?"

"Not a clue," Pietro said, kind of dazed to realize that he'd just agreed to spend quality time with his soulmate and his soulmate's soulmate without even knowing where "home" was or even actually deciding to pursue a relationship he hadn't seen coming. "Maybe you can tell me about how you met Phil."

Clint grinned, nudged him across the bed, and then climbed on beside him. Pietro was quite comfortable leaning against Clint's warm, muscular chest as he listened to the epically dumbass courtship of two clueless soulmates who also happened to be very busy SHIELD agents.

Considering the way they'd both managed to fuck things up over and over again, maybe being Clint's other soulmate wasn't so scary after all.

~*~

"Does he ever stop?"

"Eventually," Phil said, sipping his coffee as they sat in the kitchen and watched Clint hammer the last few boards of the front veranda into place. "Usually I wait for him to finish one project and distract him before he can start another."

"Distract him how?" Pietro asked, apparently concerned that Clint was going to give himself a heart attack. He hadn't stopped working around the farm house since they'd arrived yesterday lunchtime. Phil and Pietro had both helped him on and off, but Phil wasn't even sure Clint had slept last night. He was quite used to Clint's rather manic post-mission behavior that usually started the moment he stepped foot onto their farm, but Phil supposed he'd be worried too if he was seeing it for the first time. And to be honest, even with the aftermath of Ultron, Phil had kind of expected Clint to be doing things other than pounding nails.

"I have various methods of distraction," Phil said with a wink, "but maybe you'd like to take the lead on this mission."

Pietro rolled his eyes at Phil's terrible pun, but he at least seemed to understand what Phil meant.

"Are you sure?" Pietro asked nervously.

"I'm sure," Phil said, grateful to have gotten to know Pietro a little better in the past day and a half. Perhaps that was why Clint had fallen into his usual routine. Phil knew he desperately wanted Phil and Pietro to get along, and so far, so good.

"Anything I should know first?"

Phil shrugged and then remembered one of Clint's bad habits that might not have a good outcome if his super-speedy mate surprised him. "Yeah, one thing. He tends to hold the spare nails between his teeth. Try to make sure he doesn't swallow them."

Pietro laughed and was gone, Clint's surprised yelp reaching Phil's ears almost immediately.

~*~

"Hi," Pietro said as he suddenly appeared in front of Clint. It took a moment to realize that Pietro had snagged the nails from his mouth and that he hadn't actually swallowed them.

Clint grinned, wrapped his arms loosely around Pietro's waist, and leaned in for a quick kiss. "Did you need something?"

"You," Pietro said, the word not as confident as he probably intended it to sound.

Clint smiled and winked. "You've already got me. Anything else?"

"You stink," Pietro said, wrinkling his nose theatrically, "and need a shower."

"Is that an invitation?" Clint asked, grinning more widely when his soulmate blushed all the way to the roots of his white hair. But then he remembered their conversation from the night in the hospital. Clint had suspected that Pietro might be inexperienced when it came to guys, but he hadn't quite been prepared for his soulmate to be a virgin. Unfortunately it made sense. Pietro had spent the years he could have been dating and exploring his sexuality being experimented on by Hydra. Clint pressed another kiss to Pietro's lips before taking a step back. "But there's no rush."

"Have you smelled you?" Pietro asked in his best smartass tone. "There's a rush. Believe me, there's a rush."

Clint laughed, reached for Pietro's hand, and turned toward the house. "Everything okay between you and Phil?"

At first it seemed as if Pietro might give him another smartass reply, but then he took a deep breath and gave Clint a small smile. "He's a really nice guy."

Clint couldn't help but smile back. "Don't tell the baby agents though. You'll ruin his reputation."

Pietro laughed and nodded, before sobering again and adding in a serious tone, "He really loves you."

Clint nodded. "And he cares for you too." Clint wasn't sure he should admit to it, but telling Pietro about his and Phil's first year together had highlighted a lot of his own mistakes. He really didn't want to make the same errors with Pietro. "Phil cared for you even when I was denying that the new soul words were even real." Pietro's fingers twitched in Clint's hold, but thankfully the man didn't pull away. "When Phil's soul words faded from my skin, it felt like my entire world had imploded. Finding out he was alive was the single most terrifying gift I've ever been given. I thought for sure it was a lie or my imagination. It felt too good to be true."

Clint rubbed a thumb over the words on Pietro's wrist.

"Our lives were almost back to normal when your words appeared. I thought it meant I was going to lose him again." He closed his eyes and said the words into the dark. "And when he accepted so easily that I'd one day have another soulmate..." He swallowed hard, unable to finish that sentence. He cleared his throat and tried to get his emotions back onto an even keel. "But when I lost you, when you died, it felt like it was happening all over again. I barely knew you, but losing you hurt just as much."

~*~

Pietro had no idea how to react. After their parents' deaths, he and Wanda had been too busy trying to survive to worry too much about what their soul words might mean. Wanda's weren't even real words, so for the most part they'd simply ignored them.

But his attraction to Clint had been easy to understand. The guy was seriously good looking and a definite smartass—two qualities Pietro felt were essential to any relationship he might have.

Yet it was the attraction and affection he already felt for his soulmate's soulmate that was confusing him now. Clint had just admitted that Pietro was as important to him as Phil, and all Pietro could think about was how Phil had not only accepted that he would be joining them, but that he'd also made space for him in their lives. Pietro had been completely flabbergasted when he'd realized that the three of them each had a room. Phil and Clint had very literally given him his own room at the farmhouse before they'd even known for sure that he existed.

Pietro's first reaction to learning Clint had another soulmate was to refuse to share. Phil's had been the exact opposite. He was overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of both men.

"I kind of need you to say something right now, to maybe tell me how you're feeling," Clint said, sounding worried. "I don't want to make the same mistakes I made with Phil, but I can almost guarantee I'll find new ways to fuck up."

It was kind of nice to realize that Clint didn't have all the answers either, but Pietro wanted to at least try and avoid making a few mistakes of his own.

"I was just thinking about how great Phil is."

Clint seemed surprised, but he smiled widely. "To be honest, I think you probably would have been far better off being his soulmate than mine. I'm more likely to be the incendiary that blows everything up than the glue that holds things together."

"Maybe you don't need to be the one stuck in the middle," Pietro said, feeling a blush creep up his cheeks. He hadn't quite meant it like that. "I mean... Maybe the three of us together can find a way to make things work."

Clint's grin faded as he stopped walking and turned to stand in front of Pietro. "You don't have to do that," he said shaking his head. "Phil's not going to be jealous or angry when I spend time with you."

"That's not quite what I meant," Pietro mumbled wondering if now would be a good time to use his Hydra-given gifts and run away from this conversation very fast. He took a deep breath and tried to remember the things his sister had said. _Be good, be honest, and be yourself_. "I like Phil. I like him a lot."

Clint gave him a narrow-eyed look. "I might have mentioned that I'm not good at reading between the lines." Pietro nodded. It was something they had in common. "So I kind of need you to spell this out for me."

Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. Pietro wasn't going to talk about sex, at least not until he actually had some...

When he didn't answer, Clint touched a finger to Pietro's chin and encouraged him to make eye contact. "Do you want to ask Phil to join our relationship?" He hesitated. "In every sense? You and me, me and Phil, and you and Phil. All three of us together?"

Pietro nodded warily, willing to make a joke out of it all if it even looked like this discussion might end badly. Clint had been the one chosen by fate to have two soulmates, not Pietro, not Phil.

"Including sex?" Clint asked in a very serious tone.

Pietro bit his bottom lip and nodded, his eyes widening with Clint's pained groan. Panicked by the reaction he opened his mouth to take the idea back but instead tasted Clint's lips as he leaned in and kissed him. Pietro moaned as his soulmate pushed his tongue into his mouth, the kiss growing steadily more demanding as their hands began moving over each other's body.

Embarrassment flooded him when he realized he was practically humping Clint's leg, but when Clint pressed both of his hands against Pietro's ass to hold him hard against him, Pietro could only groan his enjoyment.

"Come on," Clint said, finally moving away and grinning down at the erection tenting Pietro's pants. "Let's go talk to Phil. I'm sure we can persuade him that he needs to join us in the shower."

Pietro grinned, nodded, and then let his soulmate lead him into the house and toward a bright and shiny future he never really saw coming.

  
 

Epilogue

 

Two years later...

"Honey, we're home," Clint called in a singsong voice as he and Pietro stepped into Phil's office.

"I figured that out," Phil said sardonically, glaring at the cup of coffee that Pietro now drank from.

Clint shrugged. Their soulmate loved to irritate people. Clint could relate, so he could hardly call him on it. Phil took a deep breath, pressed his lips together in an attempt not to smile, and indicated for them both to take a seat.

"How did the mission go?"

"You already read the reports," Pietro said, unable to sit still. He was like this after every mission, but this one had been longer and harder than any they'd shared since Ultron.

"But I also like to get verbal confirmation from my agents."

"Wouldn't you rather get a blowjob from your soulmates?"

"Yes, I would," Phil deadpanned, "but right now I need a verbal report from my agents."

Clint chuckled, reached for Pietro's hand in the hopes of grounding him for a little while longer, and launched into a quick verbal summation of the report they'd filed. Unlike Clint and Pietro, Phil was very good at reading between the lines.

He frowned at all of the parts where Clint bent the truth just a little—Phil had been on enough missions with him to know how he operated—and then finally smiled and complimented them both on a successful outcome.

Pietro immediately jumped to his feet and pulled Clint with him. "So can we go home to the farmhouse now?" he asked, vibrating with energy. "Are you coming with us, Phil?"

Clint was relieved to see Phil's nod. Pietro had adopted Clint's habit of working non-stop on renovations as he worked through the emotions of the last mission. Sometimes even the easy ones left an impression that was hard to shake. They'd had a couple of near misses on this one, so they were both liable to work until they dropped. At least with Phil along, he'd remind them to eat and sleep.

And he'd proven very good at distracting them both.

~*~

Nine hours later, with the frame for the new barn almost complete (thanks mostly to Pietro's incredible speed and Clint's knowledge and building experience) Phil finally called a halt to the work.

Both of his lovers were shirtless and glistening with sweat in the late afternoon sun, and Phil couldn't help but grin at the gorgeous sight. Individually Clint and Pietro were hot. Together they were sexy as hell.

But they were also both incredible men who'd overcome difficult childhoods and tragic losses and somehow grown up to be mostly whole. They were generous and compassionate and brave, and dedicated to defending anyone who needed their help. They were SHIELD agents, and Avengers, and honest-to-god heroes.

Most people looked at them and saw two smartass jokers, but they let Phil see so much more. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten lucky enough to have a relationship with two such amazing men, but he was very grateful to have them both in his life.

~*~

Three hours later exhausted, happy, and sated (despite his super-speedy refractory time) Pietro snuggled into the space between Clint and Phil. Both men wrapped around him, reaching over to touch each other as well. The last mission had been horrible, but it was the thought of eventually coming home and being with his men just like this that had kept him sane.

Two years ago Pietro couldn't have imagined a future as wonderful as the life he'd built with Phil and Clint but now he couldn't imagine his life without them.

He used to think that soul words sucked, but soulmates? They weren't so bad.

  


  


THE END

  


  



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